Directorate of Quality Enhancement, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi organized the post-graduate program (self) review as it is the part of external Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) mechanism of the Higher Education Commission. The self-review was conducted at main campus from 22-24 April 2024.

The purpose of the visit was to review the PMAS-AAUR MS/MPhil/Equivalent & PhD Programs' with the HEC's minimum criteria/guidelines set for these Programs.

Dr Arham Shabbir, Director Academics, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore facilitated the evaluation as external evaluator.
Internal Evaluators included:

• Prof. Dr Tanveer Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement PMAS-AAUR
• Prof. Dr M. Javaid Asad, Professor UIBB PMAS-AAUR,
• Dr Muhammad Farooq Nasir, Director Advanced Studies PMAS-AAUR
• Dr Shahbaz Ahmad Khan, Controller of Examinations PMAS-AAUR
• Mr Imran Altaf, Deputy Registrar-DQE, PMAS-AAUR
• Ms Sadaf Bashir, Assistant Registrar-DQE, PMAS-AAUR.

On this occasion, panel reviewed 38 Msc (Hons)/MS/MPhil and 30 PhD programs according to HEC PGPR guidelines, and documented all the findings. The committee members also convened the meetings with the Deans/Directors/Chairpersons of the teaching institutions and got the information about the status of their programs. Later, the committee also met with the supervisors and students of MS/MPhil and PhD programs of various faculties/Institute of the University.

During the visit, Prof. Dr Tanveer Ahmad, Mr Imran Altaf and Ms Sadaf Bashir also accompanied the visiting team.

They visited the classrooms, labs, NCIB, Qamar-uz-Zaman Undergraduate Block and main library to see the sufficiency of research and support facilities and services at PMAS-AAUR. Finally, the Review Committee shared their observations with the worthy Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr Muhammad Naeem, Registrar Mr Muhammad Aqeel Sultan and Director DQE in exit meeting. They appreciated the efforts of the DQE to have managed the review visit.

Directorate of Quality Enhancement, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi organized an Institutional Performance Evaluation (Self), as part of the self-review external quality assurance mechanism of Higher Education Commission, Pakistan. The self review was conducted at main university campus from 28-29 March 2023. The review panel consisted of one external evaluator from University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila and three internal evaluators.

Engr Dr Humayun Shahid, Associate Professor / Director (QEC), University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila facilitated the evaluation as external evaluator.

Internal Evaluators included Prof. Dr. Mazhar Qayyum, Director Quality Control, Prof. Dr. Abdul Saboor, Dean Faculty of Social Sciences, Prof. Dr M. Javaid Asad, Director UIBB PMAS-AAUR, Prof. Dr Tanveer Ahmad, Director Academics, PMAS-AAUR, Mr Imran Altaf, Deputy Registrar-DQE, PMAS-AAUR and Ms Rida Akhlaq, Assistant Registrar - DQE, PMAS-AAUR.

The purpose of the two days activity was to review the overall PMAS-AAUR performance compliance with the HEC's given specific 11 standards/dimensions for institutional quality.

The review panel first met the worthy Pro-Vice Chancellor where he briefed the review panel about the various programs offered by the university in order to strengthen the research output and also about the academic, research and developmental progress of the university.

After the presentation, the evaluators followed up on the evidences prepared by the directorate of Quality Enhancement for Institutional Performance Evaluation. The evaluators went through all the eleven (11) standards of IPE. The review panel also convened the meetings with the Deans of the Faculties, Chairmen of the Departments, Faculty Members and Students separately. Students discussed their concerns and shared the insights of the various programs with the evaluators in an open group discussion.

They also met the Heads of the administrative departments including Registrar, Treasurer, Director FA&UA, Director P&D, Director ORIC, Controller of Examinations and Director Quality Control followed by individual interviews to clarify any questions regarding the evidences provided by their respective departments.

Later the review panel visited the classrooms, labs, gymnasium, NCIB, Qamar-uz-Zaman Undergraduate Block and library to see the sufficiency of research and support facilities and services at PMAS-AAUR. Finally, the Review Panel shared their observations with the worthy Vice Chancellor and Director Quality Control in the exit meeting. They appreciated the efforts of DQE for organizing a successful event.

A seminar on "Role of University in achieving Quality-based Ranking" was organized on 15 th February 2023 at PMAS-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi by Directorate of Quality Enhancement. In this regard, guest speaker Dr Farrukh Idrees, Director QEC, National Defense University, Islamabad was invited. He started and explained certain aspects related to Ranking like Times Higher Education-World University Rankings and QS World Rankings in which he elaborated the role of different departments in improving the reputation of the university, ultimately producing Quality Graduates.

In the end, Prof. Dr Mazhar Qayyum, Director Quality Control, thanked our honourable chief guest for his precious words and to all those who attended and contributed to make this event successful. Further, shield was presented to the guest speaker and certificates were distributed among the members of DQE.

A seminar on "Post-Graduate Program Review" on the 2nd of February, 2023 at PMAS-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi by Directorate of Quality Enhancement. In this regard, guest speaker Dr Arham Shabbir, Director QEC at Lahore College for Women University was invited. He started and explained certain aspects related to Post-Graduate Program Review in which he elaborated the role of different departments and the entire institution in improving the reputation of the university, ultimately enhancing the quality of education and increasing the enrollment in Post-Graduate degree programs.

In the end, Prof. Dr Mazhar Qayyum, Director Quality Control, thanked our honourable chief guest for his precious words and to all those who attended and contributed to make this event successful. Further, shield was presented to the guest speaker and certificates were distributed among the members of DQE.

PHEC is hosted a ceremony titled "Climbing Up the Ladder: Acknowledging Ranking Achievements of universities in Punjab. As many as fifteen (15) universities, both public and private, in Punjab have shined among the 1,200 best performing universities in the world on the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023. The universities that climbed up the ranking ladder include Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad, University of Management and Technology, Lahore, University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, University of Lahore, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore, University of Gujrat, PMAS Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi (ranked 11th in Punjab), University of Sargodha, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Government College University, Lahore Lahore College for Women University.

In order to acknowledge the efforts, hard work, and commitment of the best- performing universities, the Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC) arranged an Award Ceremony at Arfa Software Technology Park, Lahore. The ceremony was attended by Mr. Ahmad Raza Sarwar, Secretary, Higher Education Commission (HED), Govt. of Punjab (as a chief guest), and Mian Imran Masood, Chairman, Chief Minister's Taskforce for Education. Former provincial education minister Prof. Dr. Nizamuddin, former Chairperson PHEC, Prof. Dr. Shahid Munir, Chairperson PHEC, Dr. Mansoor Ahmad Baluch, Chief Operating Officer PHEC, vice chancellors/rectors, registrars, deans, directors of ORICs, directors of QECs, and senior officers of PHEC attended the ceremony.

Directorate of Quality Enhancement, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi organized the review visit of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) Higher Education Commission and the Committee of Experts from various universities of Pakistan on 21-22 June 2022.

The purpose of the visit was to review the PMAS-AAUR MS/MPhil/Equivalent & PhD Programs' compliance with the HEC's minimum criteria/guidelines set for these Programs.

The review committee was comprised of the experts from outside the university. Mr Azeem Mukhtar. Director QEC, COMSATS University Islamabadparticipated and contributed to the review meeting.

On this occasion, Prof Dr. Qamar uz Zaman had a meeting with the review panel.The committee members also convened the meetings with the deans of the faculties, chairmen/incharges of the departments, Director Advanced Studies and got the information about the status of their programs. Later, the committee also met with the registered scholars of MS/MPhil and PhD programs of various faculties/Institute of the University.

During the visit, Prof Dr Mazhar Qayyum, Director Quality Control, Mr Imran ALtaf, Dy. Registrar-DQE and Ms Sadaf Bashir, Asst.Registrar- DQE also accompanied the visiting team.

They visited the classrooms, labs and library to see the sufficiency of research and support facilities and services at PMAS-AAUR. Finally, the Review Committee shared their observations with the worthy Vice Chancellor and Director DQEC in exit meeting. They appreciated the efforts of the DQEC to have managed the review visit.

Directorate of Quality Enhancement, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi organized an Institutional Performance Evaluation (Self), as part of the self-review external quality assurance mechanism of Higher Education Commission, Pakistan. The self review was conducted at main university campus from 8-9 June, 2022. The review panel consisted of one external evaluator from SZABIST and three internal evaluators.

Dr. Atif Bilal, Associate professor/Student Advisor, SZABIST Islamabad facilitated the evaluation as external evaluator.

Internal Evaluators included Prof. Dr. Mazhar Qayyum, Director QEC, Prof. Dr. Abdul Saboor, Dean Faculty of Social Sciences Prof. Dr Khalid Saifullah Khan, Director Institute of Soil Sciences PMAS-AAUR, Prof. Dr ArfanYousaf, Dean Faculty of Veterinary & Animal Sciences, PMAS-AAUR, Dr Farooq Nasir,Director Advanced Studies, PMAS-AAUR and Ms Rida Akhlaq, Assistant Registrar - DQE, PMAS-AAUR.

The purpose of the two days activity was to review the overall PMAS-AAUR performance compliance with the HEC's given specific 11 standards/dimensions for institutional quality.

The review panel first met the worthy Vice Chancellor where he briefed the review panel about the various programs offered by the university in order to strengthen the research output and also about the academic, research and developmental progress of the university.

After the presentation, the evaluators followed up on the evidences prepared by the directorate of Quality Enhancement for Institutional Performance Evaluation. The evaluators went through all the eleven (11) standards of IPE. The review panel also convened the meetings with the Deans of the Faculties, Chairmen of the Departments, Faculty Members and Students separately. Students discussed their concerns and shared the insights of the various programs with the evaluators in an open group discussion.

They also met the Heads of the administrative departments followed by individual interviews to clarify any questions regarding the evidences provided by their respective departments.

Later the review panel visited the classrooms, labs and library to see the sufficiency of research and support facilities and services at PMAS-AAUR. Finally, the Review Panel shared their observations with the worthy Vice Chancellor and Director Quality Control in exit meeting. They appreciated the efforts of DQE for organizing a successful event.

A seminar on "Teacher Role in Improving Quality of Education in Modern World" was organized on 7 th June 2022 at PMAS-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi by Directorate of Quality Enhancement. In this regard, guest speaker, Prof. Dr Nasir Mahmood, Dean Faculty of Education, Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad was invited. He started and explained certain aspects related to Modern Education like Purpose of Education- as dynamic balance, Meaning of Quality Education in 21st Century, Characteristics of New Generation of Youth, Determinants of Debate on Quality of Teachers and Changing Purpose of Education over Time.

He emphasized on Imparting knowledge should never stop and that changing the methodology in accordance with modern world should never end. Changing purpose of education over time because it was primarily about survival, education became formalized and outsourced to those with academic expertise and education supports all students as they strive to create satisfying, purposeful and fulfilling lives.

In the end, Prof. Dr Mazhar Qayyum, Director Quality Control, thanked our honourable chief guest for his precious words and to all those who attended and contributed to make this event successful. Further, shield was presented to the guest speaker and certificates were distributed among the members of DQE.

A seminar on "Importance of Conducting Surveys for Effective Self-Assessment Report" was organized on 3 rd June 2022 at PMAS-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi by Directorate of Quality Enhancement. In this regard, guest speaker, Dr Farrukh Idrees was invited who is currently working as Director Quality Enhancement Cell in National Defense University Islamabad. Basically this seminar was arranged for the Focal Persons who have been nominated at departmental level by the respective Heads of Departments for corresponding to DQE. The main purpose of organizing this seminar was to make the focal persons aware of the importance of conducting the surveys and proformae of the Self-Assessment Report.

In this context, the guest speaker elaborated the Self-Assessment Procedure by explaining the key features keeping in view the manual provided by Higher Education Commission and emphasized the focal persons to make sure that the surveys are being correctly filled by the faculty, graduating students, alumni, employers and research students so as to make the Self- Assessment Report more effective.

Further, a session was conducted by Mr Majid Tahir, Database Administrator, regarding the online filling of Proformae on UMS. He further added that the focal persons should guide the students to fill the surveys timely.

The session was concluded by Vote of Thanks by Prof. Dr Mazhar Qayyum, Director Quality Control and distribution of shield to the guest speaker and certificates among the members of DQE.

Directorate of Quality Enhancement organized Training workshops for the Affiliated Institutes and Sub-Campuses. Dr Mohsan Iqbal, Assistant Registrar (Assign. of DR-DQE) and Ms Rida Ahlaq, MTO-DQE visited the Affiliated Institutes, held Training workshops regarding Institutional Performance Evaluation (IPE) of the institutes with the aim to train and create awareness among the members of Affiliated Institutes. They highlighted the role and significance in the perspective of Quality Assurance at Higher Education Institutions of Pakistan.

They visited the following Affiliated Institutes and conducted training workshops with the title "Hands on Training workshop on Institutional Performance Evaluation"

• BIIT on 14th of Oct, 2021
• BIMS on 15th of Oct, 2021

Directorate of Quality Enhancement organized Training workshops for the Affiliated Institutes and Sub-Campuses. Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Control visited the Affiliated Institutes and Sub-Campuses, held Training workshops regarding Program Teams, Assessment Teams as well as the Quality Assurance Teams of the institutes with the aim to train and create awareness about Self-Assessment procedure and writing an effective Self-Assessment report among program teams especially new program team members who joined QEC family for the very first time. Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad highlighted the role and significance of Self-Assessment Procedure in the perspective of Quality Assurance at Higher education Institutions of Pakistan.

Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad visited the following Affiliated Institutes and conducted training workshops with the title "Self-Assessment Procedure for Ongoing Programs"

• AIMS on 26th of Jul, 2021
• GIMS on 27th of Jul, 2021
• BIMS on 12th of Aug, 2021
• BIIT on 25th of Aug, 2021

Further, training session titled "Training Workshop on Self-Assessment Program" was also held at

• BI-KAT on 3rd of Aug, 2021 along with Ms Sadaf Bashir (MTO-DQE)

Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) is ranked 12 th in the overall and 3 rd in Agriculture and Forestry among Pakistani Universities in the Times Higher Education (THE) World Universities Impact Rankings 2020. THE being most influential university ranking agency, measured the broader impact of the universities as key players in demand based research, leadership, and sustainable development. Globally, 766 universities from 85 countries are assessed against 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the UN in 2015 demonstrating services rendered by Higher Education institutions at the community level, delivering equitable quality education, achieving sustainable environment and establishing gender equality. This year 23 universities of Pakistan qualified and appeared in the ranking, which included University of Veterinary & Animal Sciences, Lahore, COMSATS University, NUST, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, King Edward Medical University, University of Lahore, University of Malakand, University of management and Technology, University of Peshawar, PMAS- arid Agriculture University, CECOS University of IT and Emerging Sciences, Dawood University of Engineering and Technology, Dow University of Health Sciences, University of Education Lahore, UET Lahore, GC University Lahore, Iqra University, Jinnah Sindh Medical University, Quaid-i-Azam University, University of Sargodha and The Women University Multan.

Placing 12th in overall ranking in Pakistan, 3rd among Agriculture and Forestry affirms the University's strong assurance to sustainable development and demonstrating significant social impact in terms of its public-private partnerships, demand-based research, quality teaching, sustainable operations, community commitment, and industry linkages. Furthermore, THE impact rankings also acknowledge the contribution and rapid progress of PMAS-AAUR towards "No Poverty" (SDG 1, Ranked 101-200 in the overall world ranking and 3rd in Pakistani Universities), "Zero Hunger" (SDG 2, Ranked 101-200 in the overall world ranking and 3rd in Pakistani Universities), "Affordable and clean energy"(SDG 7, Ranked 101-200 in global overall ranking and 4 th in Pakistani Universities) and "Partnerships for the goals" (SDG 17, Ranked 401-600 in global overall ranking and 17 th in Pakistani Universities). The strong commitment of Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Qamar-uz-Zaman, in demonstrating germane research will take this institution even further higher in the upcoming global ranking of the universities. Prof. Dr. Riaz Ahmad Director Quality Control also congratulated the entire faculty, staff, and the University community for earning a place for Arid Varsity on the global map of the higher education and assuring Quality education.

Prof. Dr. Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Control attended and contributed the International Conference on "Promoting Higher Education Quality through Policies, Standards and Practices" from 4-5 December 2019 organized by Higher Education Commission Islamabad in collaboration with United States Education Foundation Pakistan (USEFP) and Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), USA at Serena Hotel Islamabad. The conference was first of its kind in Pakistan where distinguished higher education professionals from across the world participated. The conference aimed at improving existing state of quality at the Higher Education Institutions (HEls) through advancing understanding of international quality assurance standards and bringing together international organizations and countries at one platform. The conferences also focused on the exploration and review the local contextual issues and find solutions for attaining international quality standards. The President of Pakistan, Dr. Arif Alvi was the chief gust of the conference. Dr. Judith Eaton (The President of Council for Higher Education Accreditation) and Dr. Susanna Karakhanyan (The President INQAAHE) were amongst the keynote Speakers along with other experts of Higher Education quality from across the globe.

Professor Dr. Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Control at the Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, acted as Trainer to the one-day workshop on "Self Assessment Report Writing of Academic Programs" held on 28 th of November, 2019 organized by University of Management and Technology (UMT), Lahore. In the first session of training workshop, Professor Dr. Riaz Ahmad highlighted the role and significance of Self Assessment Procedure in the perspective of Quality Assurance at Higher education Institutions of Pakistan. This was followed by second session of the training workshop wherein, all participants of workshop including Deans/Directors and Program Team members of UMT were trained to effectively write the Self-Assessment reports as per HEC laid down eight criteria of SAR. Rector UMT, Dr. Muhammad Aslam, apprised Prof. Dr. Riaz Ahmed for giving extremely informative talk on such an important topic followed by questions/answers session to all participants of workshop including Deans/Directors of different Schools/Departments and also thanked him for giving his valuable time and for sharing his thoughts and experiences with the faculty.

Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) ranked at 8th among all Pakistani Universities (1001+ among the world universities) as per latest Times Higher Education (THE) World Universities Ranking 2020. The THE is a renowned and the most recognized world universities ranking agency. The ranking included 1396 universities from 92 countries that qualified THE ranking criteria that included teaching, research, citations, industry income and international outlook. This year 14 universities of Pakistan qualified and appeared in the ranking.

To celebrate THE ranking 2020, the first International Seminar on the Times Higher Education World University Rankings was arranged by the THE at the University of Lahore. The Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Mr Shafqat Mahmood was the chief guest, and the Minster for Higher Education Punjab, Raja Yasir Humayun Sarfraz, and the Chairman Punjab Higher Education Commission, Prof. Dr. Fazal Ahmad Khalid, were the guests of honor.

On this auspicious occasion, the Federal Minister, Shafqat Mahmood and Provincial Minister, Raja Yasir Humayun Sarfraz, presented certificate (issued formally by THE) to Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell, PMAS-AAUR and The Minsters congratulated the Arid Varsity for its international ranking and appreciated the Director QEC-AAUR and his staff for their continuous efforts for quality enhancement, quality assurance and establishing the quality culture at the varsity. He also hoped that the varsity will further excel its rankings in future. Earlier this year, the Arid Varsity also made it to the THE Young Universities Rankings 2019 (330th) and Asia University Rankings 2019 (380th).

"The Arid Varsity has started to make rapid progress in the academic, industry linkages, international collaborations and research profile due to aggressive reforms and new initiatives being taken under the leadership of its new Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dr Qamar-uz-Zaman, which will take this institution further up in the upcoming global ranking of the universities", Prof. Ahmad said. The Vice Chancellor has congratulated the Director QEC and his staff, all faculty, staff and the university community for earning a place for Arid Varsity on the global map of the higher education.

A two-day International Conference on Quality Assurance in Higher Education with the theme on "Quality assurance to revolutionize 21 st century" was held on April 24-25, 2019 at University of Education Lahore preceded by Pre-conference workshops arranged on April 23, 2019 by the International Quality experts. The Conference was organized with the joint collaboration of Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, Pakistan Network of Quality Assurance in Higher Education University of Education and Khyber Medical University. The conference provided an opportunity to Higher Education Institutes and personals of HEC and Accreditation Councils to update themselves with the recent trends and practices of Quality assurance. Prof. Dr. Riaz Ahmed, Director (QEC) and MS Ainee Zafar, Asst. Registrar (QEC) participated and contributed in the conference and presented their research paper titled "Impact of perceived Service quality and perceived value on students' satisfaction in Establishing Quality Culture at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi" among a pool of 60 International and national level quality experts who presented their papers in the same conference. The research paper was based on primary survey data gathered by QEC from postgraduate students pertaining to different faculties and Institutes of PMAS-AAUR by using questionnaire as an operational tool. It proposed a model how Universities could contribute in sustainable development of society by understanding students' perceptions, expectations and learning satisfaction against their perceived value and quality of service rendered by the university. It also emphasized on dire need of HEIs to adopt stake holder oriented strategy to yield students learning satisfaction and implementing comprehensive unconventional analyses in the student enrollment process. Being prospective research based study, it was applauded by the chair of the conference and contributions of PMAS-AAUR towards assuring quality Education were recognized.

A seminar on quality assurance titled "Establishing quality culture: Students' Learning Perspective" was organized by Quality Enhancement Cell of Pir Mehr Ali Shah, Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) on April 16, 2019. Faculty members and students from the various faculties/institutes/campuses of the university attended the seminar. The seminar aimed at highlighting the key determinants of student's learning perspective in the context of characteristics of students including students previous experiences, knowledge, current understanding, program courses and existing departmental learning environment at varsity. It focused on the importance of student's' perceptions and approaches to learning in yielding both students' learning outcomes and learning satisfaction. Mr. Shahbaz Ahmad Khan Deputy Director (QEC) welcomed the participants. Professor Dr. Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC and Ms. Ainee Zafar, Assistant Director (QEC) were the resource persons.

Prof. Dr. Saboor, Dean Social Sciences, the Chief Guest of the seminar, congratulated QEC family for conducting and presenting a very good study on students' learning perspective. Further, he said that all the students being stakeholders of the university be urged to remain loyal with the system by following various quality assurance parameters/practices. He appreciated efforts of QEC in fostering trust-based quality and research culture and providing access to quality assurance knowledge.

Professor Dr. Riaz Ahmed focused on the role of university as sustainability leader and change driver in the development of communities. He emphasized on implementation of unconventional analysis in the evaluation of latent drivers of students' learning outcomes especially at the time of student enrollment process. He further, reiterated that there is a dire need for all Pakistani universities to implement a stakeholder oriented strategy to establish trust-based quality culture.

Mr. Shahbaz Ahmad Khan, Deputy Registrar Quality Enhancement Cell, PMAS-AAUR attended Progress Review Meeting and Training of QECs on 1st & 2nd April, 2019 arranged by Higher Education Commission of Pakistan at Grand Ambassador Hotel Islamabad. The first day session include reviewing Progress of QEC regarding different parameters and instruction given by HEC. The presentation on behalf of QEC PMAS-AAUR is given by Deputy Registrar QEC. The second day of activity includes revised template of YPR along with database of DAI. The training is basically planned to guide the DAIs regarding preparation of YPR as required database and acceptable evidences against each parameter of revised criteria. The day two session attended by Shahbaz Ahmad Khan DR (QEC) along with Mr. Shehzad Mahmood Computer Assistant (QEC).

The Times Higher Education (THE) World University Ranking 2019 includes more than 1,250 universities. It is the global university performance chart to measure research environment, teaching standards, knowledge transfer and international outlook. The PMAS-Arid agriculture University Rawalpindi Pakistan has secured a rank of 1001+ in world and standing among 09 (nine) Pakistani Universities in officially released rankings on September 26, 2018.

The Vice Chancellor congratulated the entire faculty, Deans & Directors for their continuous support during the ranking process. He also congratulated and applauded the performance of QEC team at the Arid Varsity and efforts of Director QEC.

The Director QEC also commended the continuous support and kind guidance of the Vice Chancellor to promote quality culture at the University.

The Quality Enhancement Cell, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi conducted an Institutional Performance Evaluation, as part of the self-review external quality assurance mechanism of Higher Education Commission, Pakistan. The self review was conducted at main university campus from 25-27 June, 2018. The review panel was consisted of one external evaluator and three internal evaluators.

Dr. Saeed-ul-Hassan Chishti, Director-QEC/Director IPD from International Islamic University, Islamabad facilitated the evaluation as external evaluator.

Internal Evaluators included Prof. Dr. Mazhar Qayyum, Director QEC, Prof. Dr. Abdul Saboor, Dean Faculty of Social Sciences and Dr. Muhammad Azam Khan, Director Advanced Studies, PMAS-AAUR.

The purpose of the three days activity was to review the overall PMAS-AAUR performance compliance with the HEC's given specific 11 standards/dimensions for institutional quality.

The review panel first met the Prof Dr. Sarwat N. Mirza, Vice Chancellor, on the occasion Vice Chancellor apprised the review panel about the various programs offered by the university in order to strengthen the research output and also briefed the review panel about the academic, research and developmental progress of the university.

After the presentation, the evaluators followed up on the evidences prepared by the Quality Enhancement Cell for Institutional Performance Evaluation. The evaluators went through all the eleven (11) standards of IPE. The review panel also convened the meetings with the Deans of the Faculties, Chairmen of the Departments, and Faculty Members separately.

They also met the Registrar, Director Planning & Development, Director ORIC, Controller of Examinations, Treasurer, and Director Procurement. This was followed by individual interviews to clarify any questions regarding the evidences provided by their respective departments.

The evaluators met the students from every Postgraduate, Graduate and Under-graduate program at different departments of PMAS-AAUR. Students discussed their concerns and shared the insights of the various programs with the evaluators in an open group discussion.

Later the review panel visited the classrooms, labs and library to see the sufficiency of research and support facilities and services at PMAS-AAUR. Finally, the Review Panel shared their observations with Prof. Dr Sarwat N. Mirza, Vice Chancellor and Director QEC in exit meeting. They appreciated the efforts of the QEC to have managed the review visit.

The Quality Enhancement Cell at PMAS - Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi organized a seminar on "Significance of Institutional Performance Evaluation in Quality assurance in HEI" on June 12, 2018.

Dr. Saeed-ul-Hassan Chishti, Director, Quality Enhancement Cell, International Islamic University, Islamabad was the Resource Person of the seminar. The main objective of the seminar was to give awareness and to enlighten the significance of eleven standards, stated as the Performance Evaluation Standards for H.E.Is, have been outlined in order to measure institutional performance. Dr. Saeed-ul-Hassan Chishti said that these standards articulate 11 specific dimensions of institutional quality & must be met by the institutes in order to secure recognition form the H.E.C as a certification of provision of quality education.

In the seminar Deans, Directors, Head of the Departments and large number of faculty members from all faculties and Institutes participated and got valuable insights on the topic. After the lecture, question and answer session was held and the participants shown keen interest in the session.

Prof. Dr. Sarwat N. Mirza, Vice Chancellor PMAS-AAUR was the chief guest at the occasion. While addressing, Prof. Dr. Sarwat N. Mirza said that Arid University is striving hard for provision of Quality Higher Education in the Country for ensuring compliance with internationally accepted standards. He appreciated the efforts of Prof. Dr. Mazhar Qayyum, Director QEC and his team for organizing this seminar on an emerging issue related to quality enhancement in academic at the Higher Education Institutions.

Earlier, Prof. Dr Mazhar Qayyum, Director QEC welcomed the Vice Chancellor. In his welcoming address, he applauded the effort and the support of the Vice Chancellor to promote the quality culture at the varsity.

Based on the progress made by the QEC during the specific period on certain Standards &Criterion (as per directive of HEC), QEC-AAUR is being ranked in the top-most 'W' category in the Quantitative Assessment of the QECs of all Pakistani Universities by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan. QEC -PMAS-AAUR has managed to maintain its position in the top -most 'W' category for the year 2016-2017 which is a significant achievement on quality front.

Based on the evaluation made by the HEC, scores obtained by the QEC-AAUR during the past years and in the year 2016-2017 are depicted below.

Mr. Raja Afzaal Mehdi, Deputy Registrar Quality Enhancement Cell, PMAS-AAUR attended one day 2 nd National level seminar on "Promoting Quality Culture in Higher Education Institutions" held at University of Wah on the 10 th of May 2018. Representatives from over 40 universities of Pakistan participated in the event. The purpose of the event was to identify trends and best practices on promoting Quality Culture in Higher Education Institutions and to strengthen collaboration, networking and capacity building amongst members of the quality family.

PMAS-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi among top10 universities of Pakistan

PMAS-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi has made it to the Times Higher Education (THE) Emerging Economies University Rankings 2018 announced last week.

According to the official announcement by the Times Higher Education, the PMAS-AAUR, is ranked overall 301-350 among the best research-led universities from the 42 emerging economy nations; standing among the 10 universities of Pakistan who made it to this coveted list.

The Times Higher Education Emerging Economies University Rankings 2018 includes institutions from 50 countries classified by the FTSE as "advanced emerging" (countries including Brazil, Greece, South Africa, Turkey), "secondary emerging" (countries including Chile, India, Pakistan, Qatar, Russian Federation) or "frontier" (countries including Argentina, Bangladesh, Croatia, Cyprus, Morocco, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Vietnam).

The ranking used the same 13 performance indicators of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, examining each university's strengths against all of its core missions - teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. Further this time the methodology has been carefully recalibrated to better reflect the characteristics and development priorities of universities in emerging economies. More weight is given, for example, to university's industry links and international outlook.

The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Sarwat N. Mirza congratulated the entire faculty, Deans & Directors for their continuous support during the ranking process. He also congratulated and applauded the efforts of Prof. Dr. Mazhar Qayyum, Director QEC, Prof. Dr. Riaz Ahmad, Ex. Director-QEC, Raja Afzaal Mehdi, Dy. Registrar-QEC, Ms. Ainee Zafar, Asst. Registrar-QEC and other team members of QEC to achieve another landmark.

The Director QEC Prof. Dr. Mazhar Qayyum also commended the continuous support and kind guidance of the Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Sarwat N. Mirza to promote quality culture at the University.

The Quality Enhancement Cell at PMAS - Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi organized a seminar on "Assuring Academic Integrity: Use of Turnitin for Academic Text" on May 08, 2018.

Dr. Mian Khurram Shahzad Azam, Addl. Director, Quality Enhancement Cell, Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi was the Resource Person of the seminar. The objectives of the seminar were to introduce tools available in Turnitin software to ensure eradication of plagiarism and to discuss spectrum of plagiarism as retrieved from the reports generated through Turnitin. Dr. Azam mentioned tools in the software that could be used to verify the authenticity of report. Dr. Azam also highlighted that Turnitin is a dynamic tool that provides text processing tool for text matching. The universities require SOPs and clear policies for anti-plagiarism process based on broad guidelines issued by Higher Education Commission of Pakistan.

Prof. Dr. Sarwat N. Mirza, Vice Chancellor PMAS-AAUR was the chief guest at the occasion. While addressing, Prof. Dr. Sarwat N. Mirza said that Arid University has very strict policy and a vigilant focus on the plagiarism check and has already adopted HEC plagiarism policy in true letter and spirit. The Turnitin software provided by HEC works to detect plagiarism and is mainly used for post-graduate theses, research papers. He said that such type of seminar will help a lot to improve the overall quality standards at the University. He appreciated the efforts of Prof. Dr. Mazhar Qayyum, Director QEC and his team for organizing this seminar on an emerging issue related to quality enhancement in academic at the Higher Education Institutions.

Earlier, Prof. Dr Mazhar Qayyum, Director QEC and Raja Afzaal Mehdi, Deputy Registrar (QEC) welcomed the Vice Chancellor. In his welcoming address, he applauded the effort and the support of the Vice Chancellor to promote the quality culture at the varsity.

Dy. Registrar- QEC, Raja Afzaal Mehdi attended a one day Training Workshop on "Outcome Based Education & Development of Self -Assessment Report" held at PMAS-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi on 29th March, 2018.

Prof. Dr. Mazhar Qayyum, Director QEC,PMAS-AAUR attended two days activity organized by the Quality assurance Agency of Higher Education Commission, Islamabad for Heads of QECs on 21-22 March, 2018 at Margala Hotel,Islamabad.

On 1 st day of the activity Prof. Dr. Mazhar Qayyum presented university progress report on format of QAA covering the following areas:

1. Progress against Institutional Performance Evaluation
2. Progress against Program Self-Assessment
3. Progress against Accreditation
4. Progress of Ph. D. Program Review and MS/M. Phil & Equivalent Program Review
5. Implementation of HEC(QA) Polices and criteria's
6. The hindrances in Implementation of revised criteria
7. Help required from HEC

On 2 nd day of the activity Prof. Dr.Mazhar Qayyum participated in the Training on revised template of YPR along with data base of DAI. The training was basically planned to guide the DAIs regarding preparation of YPR as per the given template along with required databases and acceptable evidences, against each parameter of revised criteria.

The Quality Enhancement Cell, PMAS-AAUR organized the review visit of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the Committee of Experts from various universities of Pakistan on 09 th February, 2018.

The Quality Enhancement Cell, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi organized the review visit of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) Higher Education Commission and the Committee of Experts from various universities of Pakistan on 09 th of February, 2018.

The purpose of the visit was to review the PMAS-AAUR MS/M.Phil/Equivalent & Ph.D Programs' compliance with the HEC's minimum criteria/guidelines set for these Programs.

The review committee was comprised of the experts and the HEC officials including Prof.Dr. Ahrar Khan, Agriculture University, Faisalabad, Prof. Dr. Farman Ullah, Agriculture University, Peshawar, Prof. Dr. Ghulam Ali Mallah, Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, Prof. Dr. Mohammad Rafiq Baloch, Lahore Leads University, Lahore, Prof. Dr. Nazeer Ahmad, Balochistan University of Information Technology, Emerging & Management Sciences, Quetta, Prof. Dr. Razia Sultana, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University for Women, Peshawar, Prof.Dr. Syed Muhammad Usman Ali, NED University of Engineering & Technology, Karachi, Sulaiman Ahmad, Quality Assurance Agency, Higher Education Commission, Pakistan., Muhammad Ali Baig, MS. Marryam Kamal and MS. Mehreen Baig Quality Assurance Agency, Higher Education Commission, Pakistan. From PMAS-AAUR, the Senior Management including the Deans /Directors of Faculty/Institutes , the Chairpersons, Senior faculty members, Director Advanced Studies, representatives from the Controller of examinations and Registrar office participated and contributed to the review meeting.

On this occasion, Prof Dr. Sarwat N. Mirza apprised the committee about the various programs offered by the university in order to strengthen the research output and also briefed the committee about the academic, research and developmental progress of the university.

The committee members also convened the meetings with the deans of the faculties, chairmen/incharges of the departments, Director Advanced Studies and got the information about the status of their programes.

Later, the committee also met with the registered scholars of MS/MPhil and PhD programme of various faculties/Institute of the University.

During the visit, Prof Dr Mazhar Qayyum, Director, Quality Enhancement Cell, Raja Afzaal Mehdi, Dy. Registrar-QEC and MS. Ainee Zafar-Asst.Registrar- QEC also accompanied the visiting team.

They visited the classrooms, labs and library to see the sufficiency of research and support facilities and services at PMAS-AAUR. Finally, the Review Committee shared their observations with Dr Sarwat N. Mirza, Vice Chancellor and Director QEC in exit meeting. They appreciated the efforts of the QEC to have managed the review visit.

A one-day seminar on "TUNING UP REVIEW PROCESS OF MS/MPHIL/EQUIVALENT & PHD PROGRAM AT PMAS-AAUR " was organized by the Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) of Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi on the 06th of February, 2018. The main theme of the seminar was to apprise all faculty members and research scholars regarding the importance of external quality assurance mechanism for MS/MPhil./equivalent & Ph.D Programs and to prepare them for upcoming HEC -QAA External review visits of this university in this regard. Deans of all faculties, Directors of institutes, Chairpersons of various departments, faculty members and research scholars actively participated in the seminar. Prof. Dr. Mazhar Qayyum, Director QEC and Ms Ainee Zafar AR(QEC) acted as resource Persons.

Prof. Dr. Mazhar Qayyum highlighted the importance of fulfillment of academic requirements and alignment of educational goals of various launched programs of university with the quality assurance criteria laid down by HEC. He said that Universities are not only accountable to internal academic audit in the form of self evaluation but also to external academic audit conducted by HEC. He further reiterated that university can achieve relevancy to national demands and international competitiveness at both program level and institutional level only through practical implementation of quality assurance criteria and procedures. He said that quality being dynamic entity depends on the interaction between various factors including leadership, quality of faculty, students, infrastructure, learning environment, governance and assessment procedures. HEC, QEC and all faculty of the university pertain to the same page striving hard for the development of quality higher education system in Pakistan. Only an optimistic approach of all faculty members and students towards external academic audit can yield fruitful results. He appreciated support of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dr.Sarwat N. Mirza, for promoting research culture and quality in academics at the university. Overall the seminar provided an excellent opportunity in tuning up the faculty about the external quality assurance mechanism i.e review process for MS/MPhil./equivalent & Ph.D Programs. In the end, participants applauded the untiring efforts and dedication of the QEC staff for arranging such an enlightening quality seminar for promotion of Quality Higher Education at the varsity.

Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi ranked at 2nd among the Pakistani Universities, 113TH in Asia, and 340TH among the World Universities

Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi has been ranked at the 2nd among all Pakistan Universities as per latest UI GreenMetric World Universities ranking 2017 . UI's GreenMetric University Sustainability Ranking (Green Metric) is a world university ranking universities to assess and compare campus sustainability efforts. It is the only ranking that measures university commitment in developing 'Environmentally friendly' infrastructure. The ranking criteria for the universities including campus setting and infrastructure, energy and climate change, waste, water, transportation and education. Overall the Arid Varsity has been ranked as 340th among the top over 600 universities of the world with the total score of 4351 as per UI GreenMetric World Universities ranking. The University of Agriculture Faisalabad ranked as 271 st with a total score of 4613.The only four other Pakistani Universities ranked as:

University of Lahore at 431st , Lahore University of Management Sciences at 485th , University of Karachi at 511th and International Islamic University Islamabad at 553rd among all World Universities ranked UI GreenMetric.

At the international recognition of Arid Varsity, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Dr Sarwat N. Mirza has congratulated the faculty and staff of the university. He said, "This is the testimony that the quality of education, research and campus setting infrastructure has improved significantly. This achievement is an outcome of the new initiatives and the revolutionary steps introduced by the arid university for improving the educational standards and the dedicated hard work of the university faculty, research scholars, and the staff". He hoped that this institution go further up and join the rank of the top leading universities of the world in near future. The Vice Chancellor especially appreciated the efforts and contribution by the Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) of the University and the pivotal role played by the QEC team to boost the quality of education and research by changing the mindsets of the faculty, research scholars and staff.

A seminar on "Time Management for enhancing quality in Academics" held at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR), on 07 th of December,2017. The seminar was organized by Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) with an aim to elaborate the importance of time for quality enhancement-a step forward for the achievement of academic goals.

Prof. Dr. Sarwat N. Mirza, Vice Chancellor PMAS-AAUR was the chief guest at the occasion while Prof. Dr. Abdul Sabor, Dean Faculty of Social sciences was the focal person at the seminar.

While addressing, Prof. Dr. Sarwat N. Mirza said that there is a dire need of time management in term of hard intervention as well as soft intervention through enhancing productivity, efficiency and effectiveness of time use in academic sphere and allied areas of management so that the universities could play their role in the establishment of knowledge based economy in the country.

Vice Chancellor appreciated Professor Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC and his team for organizing this seminar on an emerging issue related to quality enhancement in academic at the Higher Education Institutions.

Professor Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality at the Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, returns after attending a high level Quality Assurance training in York (England). The training was organized by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) under the Tertiary Support Project of the World Bank in collaboration with UK Higher Education Academy, Heslington, York from 11 June 2017 to 17 June 2017. Objectives of the training included: to equip the participants with the latest techniques of Institutional Performance Evaluation and the review of the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Professor Ahmad has been working for Arid Varsity Rawalpindi as the Director Quality Control and Professor for more than a decade. He has also been at the HEC panel/review team constituted for the review of Pakistani Universities/HEIs and has played a vital role in Institutional Performance Evaluations/reviews, MPhil/MS & PhD programs reviews, and more recently Governance and Quality Assurance Reviews of Pakistani Universities and campuses as per directives of the Prime Minister of Pakistan. "The information and fresh knowledge I've acquired from the training at York included the UK Professional Standards Framework for teaching and learning in higher education; latest development in the UK higher education system; current external review systems and review methods; and working smartly for the HEIs performance evaluation", he said. The hands-on training has certainly equipped me with the latest development and techniques with regard to the review and evaluation of the HEIs, he further added.

Professor Ahmad has also played a great role in implementing the quality standards at the Arid Varsity and the varsity has been achieving the top-most "W" category for the Internal Quality Assurance for the last several years, as per HEC ranking. "The current training will help further enhancing the quality of education and research", Professor Ahmad said. He thanked the HEC for funding and organizing such a rewarding training.

A seminar on Self Assessment Program titled as "Self Assessment Program: Highlighting the Weaknesses in Self Assessment Reports" was held at Pir Mehr Ali Shah, Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi on June 8, 2017 to highlight the weaknesses in the Self Assessment Reports in order to dreamline the programs, enhance quality of education and research and student development.The seminar was organized by the Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) of the Arid Varsity Rawalpindi. Professor Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC and Ms. Ainee Zaffar, Assistant Director (QEC) were the resource persons. A large number of Program Team members from the various departments of the university attended the seminar.

Prof. Dr Rai Niaz Ahmed, Vice Chancellor of the university was the Chief Guest of the seminar. While inaugurating the seminar, he said that Self Assessment provides framework to evaluate and improve the academic programs and it also provides opportunity to cope with threats and convert the weaknesses into strengths. He further emphasized the faculty to promote research at the varsity. "We must focus on valuable research that have direct impact on our society and tend the country towards prosperity and development", he said. He lauded the efforts of Professor Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC for hisleadership role in embedding the quality standards for uplift of the Arid Varsity at the international level. He also congratulated the Director QEC and its squad,and the faculty for the improvement of Arid Varsity's ranking from 220 to 204 out of 516 universities of the world in UI Green Metric World University Ranking 2016 and hoped for leading position in near future.

Mr. Raja Afzaal Mehdi, Deputy Registrar Quality Enhancement Cell, PMAS-AAUR attended one day national level seminar on "Quality Assurance Practices in Higher Education Institutions" held at University of Wah on the 08th of May 2017. Representatives from over 20 universities of Pakistan participated in the event.

A one-day seminar on "Academic Integrity and Plagiarism" was organized by the Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) of Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi on the 28th of March, 2017. Objectives of the seminar were: to apprise faculty members and research scholars about various forms of academic dishonesty and plagiarism, to make them aware that plagiarism is one of the cardinal sins of academe for which there is zero tolerance as well as to highlight what happens when someone is caught plagiarizing and the swift consequences one has to face. Faculty members, research scholars, Chairpersons of various departments, Deans and Directors actively participated in the seminar. Professor Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC, and Ms Ainee Zafar acted as Resource Persons. Professor Ahmad has been nominee of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan in the Plagiarism Standing Committees of various Universities of Pakistan and played a vital role in investigating several plagiarism cases reported to the HEC.

Professor Riaz Ahmad said the Arid Varsity has very strict policy and a vigilant focus on the plagiarism check. He further informed that university has adopted HEC plagiarism policy in true letter and spirit. In an attempt to better police students who plagiarize, Arid Varsity uses software "Turnitin" provided by the HEC of Pakistan. The software works to detect plagiarism and is mainly used for post-graduate theses, research papers and undergraduate class assignments. "The Arid University stands at #4 among all the Pakistani Universities with regard to the Turnitin usage", Prof. Ahmad said. He appreciated support of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Niaz Ahmad, for promoting research culture and quality in academics at the university. Overall the seminar provided an excellent opportunity for the faculty to learn about the academic integrity and plagiarism. In the end, participants applauded the untiring efforts and dedication of the QEC staff for arranging such an enlightening quality seminar for combating plagiarism at the varsity. .

Based on the progress of implementation of IQA Mechanism for the period 1.7.2015 to 30.6.2016 by the Quality Enhancement Cell, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi was assessed on defined parameters obtained 89.89% and ranked in the top-most 'W' category in the Quantitative Assessment of the QECs of all Pakistani Universities by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan.

A one day training workshop on "self assessment program for new program teams" was organized by QEC of PMAS- Arid agriculture university Rawalpindi on 26th January, 2017 with the aim to train and create awareness about self assessment procedure and writing an effective self assessment report among program teams especially new program team members who joined QEC family for the very first time. The workshop started with the recitation of few verses from holy Quran.

Prof. Dr. Riaz Ahmed, Director QEC warmly welcomed all team members and participants. While addressing Prof. Dr. Riaz Ahmed focused on importance of quality and role of self assessment procedure/program in improving the quality in the education and research at university level .He said that university is perusing excellence in self assessment program day by day. However, it is dire need of the time that the students and faculty should be made aware of the official importance towards improving the education system.

Mr. Shahbaz Ahmed Khan Dy. Director QEC depicted comprehensive picture of self assessment procedure and trained new program team members and participants about writing an effective self assessment report. He described salient features of various components of self assessment program. He highlighted the importance of self assessment program in maintaining and enhancing academic standards and students learning. He further added that SAP helps in the preparation of academic program for reviewing and providing feedback for quality assurance of academic program. He also explained in detail all criteria of self assessment program and its associated standards in the light of self assessment manual of the HEC.

A one day seminar on "ROLE OF OPERATIONAL GOVERNANCE FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE IN HEIs" for administrative and teaching staff organized by Quality Enhancement Cell of Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) on 30th of December, 2016 at PMAS-AAUR). It aimed at creating awareness about the role of Operational Governance at higher educational institutions for Quality Assurance.

Prof. Dr Rai Niaz Ahmad, Vice Chancellor of the university, while inaugurating the seminar said this is first time that a seminar being organized for the administrative and teaching staff of the university which will create awareness for Good Governance in Operational matter for which we are struggling hard in the institutions. He said that Holy Prophet Muhammad Peace Be Upon Him set a role model of good governance for every field of life. We should follow the Quran and Sunnah to create culture of justice to have role model of good governance. He appreciated the efforts of QEC and said such type of seminar will help a lot to improve the individual to achieve the good governance.

Earlier, Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC and Shahbaz Ahmad Khan Deputy Registrar QEC welcomed the Vice Chancellor. In his welcoming address, he applauded the effort and the support of the Vice Chancellor to promote the quality culture at the varsity. He also welcomed all the participants from the university administration and teaching staff in the seminar. They said change is desirable and we need to change the �I� and then �We� will be automatically changed. Dr Abdul Saboor, Dean Faculty of Social Sciences in presentation gives comprehensive picture of governance. He also highlighted the importance of Operational Governance and Quality Assurance for the administration and academics staff in the higher educational institutions. He spoke on the Quality and Governance as a multi-dimensional concept embracing all its (HEI) functions and activities.

Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC along with Mr. Shahbaz Ahmad Deputy Registrar (QEC) PMAS-AAUR, attended HEC meeting at Grand Regency Hotel Islamabad on 21-22 December 2016 to review the progress of HEIs of Group I & 2.

Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC along with Mr. Shehzad Mehmood Computer Assistant PMAS-AAUR, attended training on HEC ranking software at HEC organized by the HEC on 09th December, 2016. The participants had hands on training. The main purpose of the training is make universities official familiar with new software of ranking so that they can handle it properly and put data for upcoming ranking of the universities.

Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell of Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University attended a meeting of Plagiarism Standing Committee at the University of Agriculture Peshawar on 8th November, 2016 as a nominee of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan to investigate the case of Plagiarism.

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) is striving hard to improve the standards and procedures of Higher Education in Pakistan. In this regard HEC constituted a panel of experts from all over the Pakistan to review the campuses. Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell, was selected as member of the Review committee by the HEC. He visited the University of Education (Lahore) Jauharabad Campus on 02 September 2016 for their reviews as per directions of HEC.

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) is striving for provision of Quality Higher Education in the Country for ensuring compliance with internationally accepted standards. Accordingly, the HEC has constituted Review Panels of experienced academicians of the country to Recognized Campuses. Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell, was selected as member of the Review committee by the HEC and visited the University of Lahore (Lahore) Sargoda Campus on 01 September 2016 for their reviews as per directions of HEC.

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) is striving hard to improve the standards and procedures of Higher Education in Pakistan. In this regard HEC constituted a panel of experts from all over the Pakistan to review the campuses. Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell, was selected as member of the Review committee by the HEC. He visited the University of Animal & Veterinary Sciences (Lahore) Patoki Campus on 30 August 2016 for their reviews as per directions of HEC.

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) is striving for provision of Quality Higher Education in the Country for ensuring compliance with internationally accepted standards. Accordingly, the HEC has constituted Review Panels of experienced academicians of the country to Recognized Campuses. Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell, was selected as member of the Review committee by the HEC and visited the Preston University (Kohat) Lahore Campus on 29 August 2016 for their reviews as per directions of HEC.

Mr. Shahzad Mehmood Computer Assistant of Quality Enhancement Cell of PMAS-AAUR attend a three training workshop under Indigenous on Campus Training (IOT) program at Air University Islamabad from 19-21 July 2016.

A three-day training workshop on "Quality Assurance" for administrative/non-teaching staff started on 30th of May, 2016 at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan under the Modern University Governance Program on the Indigenous On-campus Training (IOT). It aimed at creating awareness about the quality assurance and promoting quality culture at the educational institutions. Around 35 participants from the administrative staff of the university including those from adjoining/affiliated educational institutions are participating in this 3-day workshop.

Prof. Dr Rai Niaz Ahmad, Vice Chancellor of the university, while inaugurating the workshop said this is the 2nd Quality Assurance workshop of its type that has been organized exclusively for the administrative staff of the university which will create quality culture for which we are struggling hard to create. He said that there was no comparison of this nation with any other nation of the world but the only thing we are lacking is "Quality". We need to address Quality in every walk of life and particularly in education, he added. He accentuate that the standards of Quality of higher education in Pakistan need to be improved to achieve the goals of competitiveness with the international standards. He further said, "There is no compromise on Quality and merit is the only criteria for our selection of new faculty for this university." He appreciated efforts of the Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) at Arid Varsity and the HEC for their dynamic roles to enhance the quality of education and research in the University to meet the international standards. He also appreciated the collaboration and financial support of the HEC for conducting this high quality workshop. He urged the participants to adapt best practices, equip themselves with the quality tools and play their roles as mangers to take this institution to one of the best educational institutions of the world. He hoped that impact of this quality workshop will go far assuring the quality and promoting good governance at this esteemed institution.

Earlier, Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC and Shahbaz Ahmad Khan Deputy Registrar (QEC) the Course Coordinator (Quality Assurance) welcomed the Vice Chancellor. In his welcoming address, he applauded the effort and the support of the Vice Chancellor to promote the quality culture at the varsity. He also welcomed all the participants from the university administration to this 5-day long workshop and hoped the participants will learn and benefit from the versatile and proven experiences of the speakers, professional trainers and consultants from the prestigious institutions. He hoped the workshop will sensitize the administrative/non-teaching staff for the Quality Assurance and quality culture. Professor Dr Yasin, the Convenor of the Course also addressed the participants and hoped that Quality Assurance workshop will benefit the administrative staff of the University significantly.

During the 3 days of the workshop 9 sessions including presentations, lectures, activities and interactive sessions on Quality Assurance will be conducted. The resource persons of the ongoing workshop include Farrukh Idrees (FAST) Zahid Iqbal (Ripha International University), Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad (Director QEC-AAUR), Shahbaz Ahmad Khan (Deputy Registrar QEC-AAUR) and Prof. Dr Abdul Saboor, Dean Faculty of Social Sciences.

On the first day of the workshop Professor Dr Riaz Ahmad (Director QEC-AAUR), and Dr Abdul Saboor, (Dean Faculty of Social Sciences PMAS-AAUR) highlighted the importance of Quality and Quality Assurance for the administration and academics in the higher educational institutions. They spoke on the Quality as a multi-dimensional concept embracing all its (HE) functions and activities, and the ways culture of Quality can achieve excellence in the higher education. There were also interactive and activities sessions during the day.

    

A seminar titled "ADKAR: A Change Management Competency Model for Quality Assurance in Higher Education Institutions" was organized at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) on the 17th of May, 2016 by the Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) of the University. Speaker of the seminar was Dr Almas Kiani, Associate Professor of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences, Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi. A large number of faculty members, Deans of Faculties, Directors, Head of Departments, and faculty members including from the Joint-Ventured Institutions of the University attended the seminar. The welcome address was given by Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC.

Dr Kiani presented a goal-oriented change management model "ADKAR" to guide individual and organizational change. The Model represents five outcome competency milestones an individual must achieve for change to be successful: awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement. These five enablers of change play significant role in assuring quality in higher education institutions. It was concluded that the quality of Higher Education institutions can only be assured through managing the challenges of educational changes within the context of globalized knowledge.

Prof. Dr Rai Niaz Ahmad, the Vice Chancellor of Arid varsity was the Chief Guest of the seminar. In his concluding remarks he said that change is a difficult process and what's more is that it's inevitable. He said the ADKAR model could be applied to a variety of changes to derive change success. He appreciated the performance of QEC squad at the Arid Varsity and congratulated Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC, on organizing such an excellent seminar. He also congratulated all faculty and staff for the Arid University's having been ranked at 2nd Pakistani University by the IU GreenMetric in 2016. Recently ranking of the World Universities by the GreenMetric declared only 05 Pakistani Universities in the Top 400 universities of the World. "The Quality Enhancement Cell has played a pivotal role in enhancing and ensuring the quality of education and research at this university and in particular changing the mindsets of the faculty, research scholars and staff because of which this institution now stands with top universities of the world", the Vice Chancellor said.

The Quality Enhancement Cell of PMAS-AAUR is going to organize a Seminar titled "ADKAR: A Change Management Competency Model for Quality Assurance in Higher Education Institutions" on 17 May 2016 at 10:00 am. The Program Team members/Faculty members are invited to attend the workshop. The venue of the event is seminar room of University Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology.

A one-day training workshop titled "Tuning up of Self Assessment Program" was organized by Quality Enhancement Cell of Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi at University Institute of Biochemistry & Biotechnology Seminar Room to tune up the Self-Assessment Program already initiated at the Arid University as per requirements of the Higher Education Commission. Mr. Shahbaz Ahmad Khan, Deputy Registrar QEC, was the resource person for the workshop. Program Team members and HoDs from various departments attended the workshop. The workshop comprised of two sessions. Mr. Shahbaz gave an introduction to quality, the need for Quality Assurance in the HEIs of Pakistan.

In the second session, the Program Team members were trained for the Self-Assessment report, writing effectively following the eight criteria of Self-Assessment, implemented by the HEC. In the end, Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell of PMAS-AAUR & resource person answered the questions/quarries of the participants

The Quality Enhancement Cell of PMAS-AAUR is going to organize a workshop on "Tuning Up Of Self Assessment Program" on 25 March 2016 at 10:00 am. The Program Team members are invited to attend the workshop. The venue of the event is main seminar room of University Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology.

The Quality Enhancement Cell of PMAS-AAUR organized a seminar on "Change Management, Theory and Practice': A Perspective on Educational Quality Management" on 14 March 2016 at 10:00 am. Mr. Shahbaz Ahmed Khan (DR-QEC) welcomes the guest speaker (Dr. Asif Ayub Kiani) and participants. Dr. Asif Ayub Kiani, Assistant Professor (National University of Science & Technology) was the resource person/speaker.

Dr. Asif Ayub Kiani elaborated that managing organizational change will be more successful if you apply these simple principles. If you force change on people normally problems arise. Change must be realistic, achievable and measurable. Before starting organizational change, ask yourself: What do we want to achieve with this change, why, and how will we know that the change has been achieved? Who is affected by this change, and how will they react to it?

In the seminar head of the departments and large number of faculty members from all faculties and Institutes participated and got valuable insights on the topic. After the lecture, question and answer session was held and the participants shown keen interest in the session. The participants appreciated the efforts of the QEC on organizing such an effort.

  

The Quality Enhancement Cell of PMAS-AAUR is going to organize a seminar on "Change Management, Theory and Practice': A Perspective on Educational Quality Management" on 14 March 2016 at 10:00 am. The Faculty members, Deans and Directors are invited to attend the seminar. The venue of the event is main seminar room of University Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology.

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) is striving for provision of Quality Higher Education in the Country for ensuring compliance with internationally accepted standards. Accordingly, the HEC has constituted Review Panels comprising of experienced academicians of the country to undertake region wise Review Visit to the HEIs and examine the necessary documents, processes and provisions related to quality and good governance. Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell, was selected as member of the Review committee by the HEC and visited the different universities of Northern region from 15 February 2016 to 23 February 2016 for their reviews as per directions of Prime Minister's Directive for quality Assurance and Good Governance in HEIs. The universities which were reviewed include Qurtuba University, DI Khan, Gomal University, DI Khan, University of Science & Technology, Bannu, Khushal Khan Khattak University, Karak, Kohat University of Science & Technology and Bacha Khan University, Charsadda.

A five-day training workshop on "Quality Assurance" for administrative/non-teaching staff started on 16th of March, 2015 at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan under the Modern University Governance Program on the Indigenous On-campus Training (IOT). It aimed at creating awareness about the quality assurance and promoting quality culture at the educational institutions. Around 35 participants from the administrative staff of the university including those from adjoining/affiliated educational institutions are participating in this 5-day workshop.
Prof. Dr Rai Niaz Ahmad, Vice Chancellor of the university, while inaugurating the workshop said this is the first Quality Assurance workshop of its type that has been organized exclusively for the administrative staff of the university which will create quality culture for which we are struggling hard to create. He said that there was no comparison of this nation with any other nation of the world but the only thing we are lacking is "Quality". We need to address Quality in every walk of life and particularly in education, he added. He emphasize that the standards of Quality of higher education in Pakistan need to be improved to achieve the goals of competitiveness with the international standards. He further said, "There is no compromise on Quality and merit is the only criteria for our selection of new faculty for this university." He appreciated efforts of the Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) at Arid Varsity and the HEC for their dynamic roles to enhance the quality of education and research in the University to meet the international standards. He also appreciated the collaboration and financial support of the HEC for conducting this high quality workshop. He urged the participants to adapt best practices, equip themselves with the quality tools and play their roles as mangers to take this institution to one of the best educational institutions of the world. He hoped that impact of this quality workshop will go far assuring the quality and promoting good governance at this esteemed institution.
Earlier, Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC and the Course Co-ordinator (Quality Assurance) welcomed the Vice Chancellor. In his welcoming address, he applauded the effort and the support of the Vice Chancellor to promote the quality culture at the varsity. He also welcomed all the participants from the university administration to this 5-day long workshop and hoped the participants will learn and benefit from the versatile and proven experiences of the speakers, professional trainers and consultants from the prestigious institutions. He hoped the workshop will sensitise the administrative/non-teaching staff for the Quality Assurance and quality culture. Professor Dr Yasin, the Convenor of the Course also addressed the participants and hoped that Quality Assurance workshop will benefit the administrative staff of the University significantly.
During the 5 days of the workshop 15 sessions including presentations, lectures, activities and interactive sessions on Quality Assurance will be conducted. The resource persons of the ongoing workshop include Professor Dr Azam Ali Khawaja (ex-Managing Director QAA-HEC), M.H. Abbasi, Dr M. Irfan Khan (Director IOSHE), Abdul Ghaffar (Senior Manager, Constec), Engineer M Ismail (Director QEC, NUST), Farrukh Idrees (FAST) Zahid Iqbal (Ripha International University), Nasir Shah (Director QAA- HEC), Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad (Director QEC-AAUR) and Shahbaz Ahmad Khan (Dy Registrar QEC-AAUR).
On the first day of the workshop Professor Dr Azam Ali Khawaja, ex-Vice Chancellor of Quaid-e-Azam University and Former Managing Director of Quality Assurance Agency of the HEC, Islamabad, Muhammad Hashim Abbasi Former Senior Joint Educational Advisor, Ministry of Education, Government of Pakistan, and Professor Dr Riaz Ahmad Director QEC, Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi highlighted the importance of Quality and Quality Assurance for the administration and academics in the higher educational institutions. They spoke on the Quality as a multi-dimensional concept embracing all its (HE) functions and activities, and the ways culture of Quality can achieve excellence in the higher education. There were also interactive and activities sessions during the day.

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) is striving for provision of Quality Higher Education in the Country for ensuring compliance with internationally accepted standards. Accordingly HEC has constituted Review Panels comprising of experienced academicians of the country to undertake region wise Review Visit to the HEIs and examine the necessary documents, processes and provisions related to quality and good governance. Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell, was selected as member of the Review committee by the HEC and visited different universities of the Sindh province from the 11th January, 2016 to the 29th of January, 2016 for the reviews for quality Assurance and Good Governance. The universities included Mehran University of Engineering Science & Technology, Jamshoro, Isra University, Hyderabad, Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam, Habib University, Karachi, KASBIT, Karachi, University of Karachi and Iqra University, Karachi.

A training workshop on Quality Assurance and Self-Assessment of programs was held at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi on 26 February 2015. It was organized by the Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC). A large number of academia, researchers and Programs Team Members attended the workshop. The Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Rai Niaz Ahmad, in his inaugural speech, highlighted the importance of quality in all fields, especially in higher education. He said, "Quality is never an accident - it always the result of sincere effort, high intention and intelligent direction and the Arid Varsity is trying to achieve it at all costs. Earlier, Professor Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC in his welcome address thanked the Vice Chancellor for his keen interest on the quality front. He also appreciated the Program Team members and the faculty for their contribution in this regard. He said the QEC was established in 2007 as Higher Education Commission Islamabad initiative and it has played a vital role boosting the quality of education and research. Later sessions on Self-assessment of programs and quality assurance were conducted in which Professor Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC and Shahbaz Ahmad Khan, Deputy Director (QEC) made the presentations. These followed interactive session with the participants.

A training workshop on Quality Assurance and Self-Assessment of programs was held at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) on26 February 2015. A large number of academia, researchers and Programs Team Members attended the workshop. The workshop was organized by the Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) of PMAS-AAUR.

The Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Dr. Rai Niaz Ahmad, was the chief guest and inaugurated the workshop. In his inaugural speech, he highlighted the importance of quality in all fields, especially in higher education. Referring to his participation in the Vice Chancellors Forum of the Islamic countries held in Islamabad earlier this week, he said the Vice Chancellors of the universities of the Islamic world were also concerned about the quality in the educational institutions of their countries. He said quality is priority all over the world and it's everyone's responsibility. He said, "Quality is never an accident - it always the result of sincere effort, high intention and intelligent direction and the Arid Varsity is trying to achieve it at all costs, as it's at the top of agenda and integral part of my vision as the Vice Chancellor. He declared that to achieve quality in higher education, the Arid University has formulated a system for fair selection of new faculty strictly on merit. Addressing to the participants he said,"It's not enough to do your best, you must know what to do and then do your best. He said Arid University has >8000 students and we must inculcate quality knowledge as they will soon join various organizations all around the world. Therefore we need to develop a system to change the mindsets of the faculty as well as the students. We must focus on the practical aspect of the programs. The University and Government of Pakistan are spending huge money on the research projects, labs establishment and the applied research. Now it is our duty to divert our energies to the applied side rather than basic research. The Vice Chancellor admired the role of QEC that it has been playing to enhance the quality of education and research at the Arid Varsity. He announced that special awards and incentives will be given to the best program team members on the basis of performance in the Self-assessment program.

Earlier, Professor Dr. Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC in his welcome address thanked the Vice Chancellor for his keen interest on the quality front. He also appreciated the Program Team members and the faculty for their contribution in this regard. He said the QEC was established in 2007 as Higher Education Commission Islamabad initiative and it has played a vital role boosting the quality of education and research. The Arid Varsity has been ranked among the top 200 universities of the world in the disciplines of Agriculture and Forestry.

Later sessions on Self-assessment of programs and quality assurance were conducted in which Professor Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC and Shahbaz Ahmad Khan, Deputy Director (QEC) made the presentations. These followed interactive session with the participants

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) is striving hard to improve the standards and procedures of Higher Education in Pakistan. In this regard HEC constituted a panel of experts from all over the Pakistan to review the degree programs. Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell as member of the Review Committee visited the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad on 26 & 27 January 2015 for the review of PhD Program.

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) is striving hard to improve the standards and procedures of Higher Education in Pakistan. In this regard HEC constituted a panel of experts from all over the Pakistan to review the degree programs. Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell, was selected as member of the Review committee by the HEC visited the Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan on 16th March 2015 for the review of PhD Program.

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) is working hard to bring the Pakistanis universities as per international standards. For this purpose a high level committee comprised of experts was constituted by the HEC to evaluate the universities across Pakistan. Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell, was nominated as the member of Institutional Performance Evaluation Review committee by HEC. He visited the subject university from 31 March 2015 to 02 April 2015 for the review.

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) is working hard to bring the Pakistanis universities as per international standards. For this purpose a high level committee comprised of experts was constituted by the HEC to evaluate the universities across Pakistan. Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell, was nominated as the member of Institutional Performance Evaluation Review committee by HEC. He visited University of Wah, Wah cantt from 26-28 May 2015 for the review.

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) is striving hard to improve the standards and procedures of Higher Education in Pakistan. In this regard HEC constituted a panel of experts from all over the Pakistan to review the degree programs. Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell, was selected as member of the Review committee by the HEC. He visited the SZABIST, Islamabad on the 08th July, 2015 for the review of PhD Program.

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) is striving hard to improve the standards and procedures of Higher Education in Pakistan. In this regard HEC constituted a panel of experts from all over the Pakistan to review the degree programs. Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell, was selected as member of the Review committee by the HEC. He visited the Al-Khair University, Bhimber, AJK on 17th August 2015 for the review of PhD Program.

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) is striving hard to improve the standards and procedures of Higher Education in Pakistan. In this regard HEC constituted a panel of experts from all over the Pakistan to review the degree programs. Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell as member of the Review committee visited the Leads University, Lahore on 29th August 2015 for the review of MS/M.Phil and Ph.D. Program.

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) is striving for provision of Quality Higher Education in the Country for ensuring compliance with internationally accepted standards. Accordingly HEC has constituted Review Panels comprising of experienced academicians of the country to undertake region-wise Review Visits to the HEIs and examine the necessary documents, processes and provisions related to quality and good governance. Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell, was selected as member of the Review committee by the HEC and visited different universities of Baluchistan in December 2015 for the review of universities as per directions of Prime Minister's Directive for quality Assurance and Good Governance in HEIs as per schedule. The universities reviewed included University of Balochistan, Quetta and Sardar Bahadur Khan University, Quetta.

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) is working hard to bring the Pakistanis universities as per international standards. For this purpose a high level committee comprised of experts was constituted by the HEC to evaluate the universities across the country. Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell, was nominated as the member of Institutional Performance Evaluation Review committee by the HEC. He visited the Indus University, Karachi and University of Balochistan, Quetta in September 2014 for the review.

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) is striving hard to improve the standards and procedures of Higher Education in Pakistan. In this regard HEC constituted a panel of experts from all over the Pakistan to review the degree programs. Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell, was selected as member of the Review committee by the HEC. He visited the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences on 1st October 2014 for the review of PhD Program.

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) is working hard to bring the Pakistanis universities as per international standards. For this purpose a high level committee comprised of experts was constituted by the HEC to evaluate the universities across Pakistan. Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell, was nominated as the member of Institutional Performance Evaluation Review committee by HEC. He visited the subject university from 14-16 October 2014 for the review.

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) is striving hard to improve the standards and procedures of Higher Education in Pakistan. In this regard HEC constituted a panel of experts from all over the Pakistan to review the degree programs. Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell, was selected as member of the Review committee by the HEC. He visited the Comsat Institute of Information Technology, Abbottabad and University of Haripur in November 2014 for the review of PhD Program.

Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi has recently qualified and achieved institutional membership of Talloires Network. The Talloires Network has been developed with the purpose of serving needs of Quality Assurance agencies and to highlight the civic activities performed by the higher education institutions all over the world. �It is in recognition to the continued efforts the QEC-AAUR has been making and an evidence to prove that the AAUR has an active interest in the Quality Assurance at the institution� Prof Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC said.

Quality Enhancement Cell PMAS-AAUR organized an orientation session for students on �Online Evaluation of Courses and Teachers by Students� on the 26th of June 2013. Earlier QEC, in collaboration with the Campus Management System (CMS) Team at AAUR, had launched the system on the 24th of June, 2013. The aim of online evaluation program is to make the data entry more accurate and efficient. This system has been designed to reduce data entry burdens for the Program Teams as this system helps timely upload of data, immediate reports for review by the authorities, automatic generating compiled reports for their use in the self assessment reports and ultimately meeting standards of data quality. Using this system, now students will be able to evaluate the courses and also the concerned teachers more effectively and securely.

A large number of students attended the session. The CMS team demonstrated the procedure of online evaluation using the system. Professor Dr Safdar Ali, Dean Faculty of Crop & Food Sciences, while addressing the students, appreciated the efforts of the Quality Enhancement Cell and CMS Team for launching the system and said the online course and teacher evaluation will further improve the quality of education and research. In the end Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC, said that the online evaluation of all courses and relevant Teachers is mandatory for all students and their feedback will help establishing faculty benchmarks for effective course design and make decisions for further improvement in the education system of our institution. He thanked the Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr Rai Niaz Ahmad for his keen interest and support for developing the online system.

Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University has lately launched an online evaluation system for students and teachers. An orientation session was organized by the QEC on 24 June 2013 for the Program Teams of various departments where the program was formally launched. The Program has been developed by the Campus Management System (CMS) team of Arid University in collaboration with QEC.

Online Teacher and Course evaluations typically replace paper evaluation that requires laborious intensive handling. It provides a secure, authentic and efficient method of obtaining useful feedback from the stack holders. Deans, HoDs and Administration will use the results to improve course offerings and provide feedback to faculty to improve their performance.

Professor Dr Riaz Ahmad QEC appreciated the CMS team for their support and responded quarries from the Program Teams. He said the online evaluation will help the program teams to complete evaluations effectively. In the end Professor Dr Safdar Ali, Dean Faculty of Crop & Food Sciences and the Program Team members appreciated the efforts made by the QEC for implementing the system and organizing the orientation program.

Quality Enhancement Cell at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, in collaboration with Pakistan Scientific & Technological Information Centre (PASTIC), organized a seminar on Scientific and Technological Information Services on 04 June 2013 to create awareness of anticipatory information services among the researchers/students. Prof. Dr. Rai Niaz Ahmad, Vice Chancellor, PMAS-AAUR, was the chief guest on this occasion. While addressing the audience the Vice Chancellor appreciated the services of PASTIC and emphasized the importance of S&T information services for research work He thanked the team of PASTIC and said that such awareness seminars should be organized more frequently.

Senior Scientific information Officer, Dr. Saima Tanveer, in her address talked about PASTIC S&T information Services and explained the role of PASTIC for scientific community. She emphasized the participants to take guidance from the PASTIC during their research work. She also informed that PASTIC has been supplying information services that aim at fulfilling the needs of researchers and scientists, particularly the Universities research scholars and faculty members by providing them bibliographic search, research papers/ articles published in national as well as international journals. Mr. Saifullah Azim, Senior System Analyst from PASTIC, delivered a thorough presentation with the title "PASTIC and its S&T information Services" and enlightened the young scientists with the PASTIC S&T information services. About 70, participants comprising of Faculty Members, MPhil & Ph. D. Students attended the Seminar. A stall with PASTIC publications was also organised during the seminar.

Professor Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell, PMAS-AAUR attended a Two Days Workshop on �Strengthening Programme Self Assessment� organized by the Quality Assurance Agency of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan in Islamabad on 23-24 May 2013. The Resource person was a well renowned International Expert, Prof. Colin N Peiris. Focus of the workshop was purpose and importance of External Quality Assurance and its role in improving the Internal Quality Assurance practices, importance of self assessment, application of web based Monitoring and Evaluation System for self assessment, and sharing experiences in QEC activities and areas of improvements.

Quality Enhancement Cell, PMAS-AAUR organized a workshop on "Self Assessment in Universities" on 31st of December 2012. The workshop consists of two deliberations�

 

• "Role of Program Team in Improving Quality of Education at Universities" by Dr. Rahat Hussain Bokhari Director QEC, Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad.
• "Extracting Information from Evaluation Proformae" by Prof. Dr. Mohammad Saleem Akhtar, Director QEC, PMAS-AAUR.

 

The purpose of workshop to aware the Program Teams involved in quality enhancement activities at the University. Workshop was attended by the Program Teams from different Faculties/Institutes/Division of the university.

 

Prof. Dr Mohammad Saleem Akhtar delivered a lecture on "Extraction Information from Evaluation Performae� at Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad on 26th of December 2012.

 

Mr. Shahbaz Ahmad Khan, Deputy Registrar Quality Enhancement Cell, attended "World Quality Day Celebration" held at "Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad" on 21st of December 2012.

Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell, participated in the workshop on Institutional Performance Evaluation Review held at HEC, Islamabad on 03-04 April 2012. Dr Ahmad was selected as member of the Institutional Performance Evaluation Review panel constituted by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan who will conduct the institutional performance evaluation of Pakistani universities periodically.

 

Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell participated in the workshop on Building Quality in Higher Education held at University of Management & Technology, Lahore on March 28-29, 2012 as organized by UMT, HEC and Pakistan Academy of Sciences.

 

Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell, attended the 14th Congress of Soil Sciences Society of Pakistan held at Expo Centre, Lahore from 12-15 March 2012. He chaired the session on Soil & Water Pollution, apart from his two oral papers presentation at the congress.

 

Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director Quality Enhancement Cell, participated in the National Science Conference held at PMAS-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi held on 10-12 January 2012 and presented two research papers.

 

The Quality enhancement Cell (QEC) of PMAS-AAUR and Research Centre for training & Development, IRP jointly organized a one-day Research workshop on "Citation & Referencing in Research using EndNote X5 on 25th August, 2011 for faculty members and research scholars. The workshop equipped the participants to shift from manual work to citation and referencing by using EndNote X5. The participants learned how to use databases effectively for advanced searching, finding relevant resources, creating libraries of their references, creating a bibliography in Word, insert referencing while writing and selecting required output styles etc. the workshop was highly interactive with major focus on hands-on-practices and usage of software.

Chief Guest at the concluding ceremony of the workshop, Prof. Dr Khalid Mahmood Khan (Sitarai-e-Imtiaz), Vice Chancellor of the University, distributed certificates to the participants of the workshop. He emphasized that creating references and citing published work in research writing is one of the most critical areas for publishing in the international journals of repute. The academic researches need good skills for making citation acceptable for the targeted journals of their disciplines. Talking on the Quality of education and research at Arid University he said, "It's on the top of our agenda and we are focusing on it." The Vice Chancellor also admired the Director QEC for taking recent several initiatives on quality front and congratulated him on achieving a total score of 89% (W category) by the QEC of the Arid University in the recent ranking of the Pakistani Universities QECs by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan.

Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC, in his welcome address, deliverd a short speech on importance of Citation and Referencing tools for the researchers. The Director QEC reciprocated and appreciated the Vice Chancellor for his full support and personal involvement in this regard and hoped that with his (Vice Chancellor's) continued support and guidance, the QEC will achieve the objectives of strengthening the internal Quality Assurance procedures at the University.

 

Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC-AAUR, attended training on Plagiarism Detection Service (Turnitin) at Bangkok, Thailand organized by the HEC in collaboration with iParadigms Europe, UK. The training was organized for the top 13 focal persons of Pakistani universities in recognition to the antiplagiarism services at their institutions. The participants had hands on training and updates of the Turnitin Software. Mr. Mark Harnor, the resource person, explained the role of administrator. He said, "It is text matching tool which provides clues for potential plagiarism". He emphasized that the instructors/supervisors are supposed to verify each and every source by visiting respective websites before giving the verdict/certificate that plagiarism has not occurred. The PeerMark and GradeMark components were also discussed. The Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi is one of the top universities in Pakistan where strict antiplagiarism policy has been implemented.

 

A training seminar on "Guidelines for Self Assessment Report Writing" was organized by QEC PMAS-AAUR on 13 December 2011. Seminar was attended by the Program Teams from University Institute of Information Technology and Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Sciences. Mr. Shahbaz Ahmad Khan Assistant Registrar (QEC) explained to the participants about the standards and criteria of the Self Assessment and about writing a good report addressing these criteria. The Director QEC, Prof. Dr Riaz Ahmad responded various queries and questions of the participants regarding the Self Assessment. The Director UIIT and Dean FV&AS appreciated the QEC for organizing the seminar.

 

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan has lately assessed the progress of Quality Enhancement Cells (QECs) of Pakistani Universities through quantitative/scorecard system. Based on the evaluation, the QEC at PMAS-AUR has achieved a total score of 89% and has been ranked as "W category" (80-100%). The Vice Chancellor has received a letter of appreciation from the QAA-HEC in this regard. The Vice Chancellor has congratulated Professor Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC, and said that due to the efforts made by the QEC squad during past four years, the quality of education and research at the institution has phenomenally enhanced. The Director QEC has also appreciated the full support and personal involvement of the Vice Chancellor and hoped that, with the continued support and guidance of the Vice Chancellor, the QEC will achieve the objectives of strengthening the internal Quality Assurance procedures at the university. The Director QEC has also congratulated the entire faculty, Deans and Directors and appreciated their cooperation and support since establishment of the QEC.

 

PMAS-AAUR has recently qualified and achieved institutional membership of the Asia-Pacific Quality Network (APQN). The APQN has been developed with the purpose of serving needs of quality assurance agencies in the higher education in Asia and the Pacific region and extending the cooperation between them. It is in recognition to the continued efforts that the QEC-AAUR has been making and an evidence to prove that the AAUR has an active interest in the Quality Assurance at the institution, Prof Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC, said.

 

The Quality Enhancement Cell, AAUR has lately designed and implemented a laboratory book for all postgraduate research students of this university. All chairpersons and supervisors have been requested to direct their research students that each of them get the Laboratory Book registered from office of the QEC-AAUR before its use. All other guidelines/instructions are clearly stated on the first page of the laboratory book. The lab book is mandatory for all the research students and must be maintained regularly. It can be asked to produce it at any stage of the candidature and, in particular, at the time of submission of thesis.

Hope the implementation of the Lab Book will improve the quality of research and also the legitimacy of the fresh and innovative research the young scholars of this institution are conducting.

 

Professor Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC-AAUR attended a forum on higher education quality assessment jointly organized by Quality Enhancement Cells of Fatima Jinnah Women University Rawalpindi and Quality Assurance Directorate of NUST, Islamabad from March 20-21, 2011. The Directors of Quality Enhancement Cells from Phase I and Phase II of the Public Sector Universities of Pakistan participated in the forum and shared the perspectives on the topic of the forum.

 

Good questions recognize wide possibilities of thoughts and build up divergence. Teachers must develop questions to expand student's knowledge, leading to creativity. QEC-AAUR organized a seminar on "Improving Teaching through Skilled Questioning" on 24 March 2011. A large number of faculty attended the seminar. The resource person, Mr M.H. Abbasi, presented several techniques of asking and answering questions with examples and also the usefulness of questioning to foster student's achievements.

 

Dr Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC, attended an international Training on Quality Assurance in Higher Education (Skills Training for External Quality Review) organized by Quality Assurance Division of HEC in collaboration with the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, UK from 18-20 April 2011.

 

A training seminar "Guidelines for Self Assessment Report Writing" was organized by QEC PMAS-AAUR on 06 September 2010. Dr Ghulam Rasul Deputy Registrar (QEC) explained in detail to the faculty "How to Write the Self Assessment Report", Seminar was attended by the Program Teams from different Faculties/Institutes/Division of the university.

 

The University Institute of Management Sciences, Departments of Horticulture and Biochemistry of PMAS-AAUR have achieved the ISO 9001:2008 certification. Considering the contribution of the Arid University towards education and research, it has adopted (initially for the above three departments) the international certification that declares enhanced quality of services and standards. The Director, Quality Enhancement Cell coordinated all the process with cooperation and support of the above departments to get the certification.

Declaration-certification and the implementation of "ISO Quality Management System" in the university will bring immense improvement in academic, research as well as operational functions and processes, Professor Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC, said.

 

The Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) at the Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (AAUR), in collaboration with the Quality Assurance Agency HEC, organized a training seminar on the "Effective Use of Turnitin Anti-Plagiarism Services". Mr Muneer Ahmed, Deputy Director (QA) HEC was the resource person. He in particular focused two new components, Grade Mark and Peer Review, that have been added lately to the Turnitin and currently functional. Both of these components will further make writing work of research scholars more transparent. A large number of faculty members, Deans and Director attended the seminar.

Prof. Riaz Ahmad Director QEC said that accounts for the faculty of university had been generated and the faculty is using the Turnitin Services enthusiastically. The Turnitin Services has started improving the Quality of research at the university and the HEC has equal credit with this regard, he said.

The Arid University has very strict policy on the plagiarism front and lately the university syndicate has approved plagiarism policy on research theses, Professor Riaz Ahmad said.

 

The Quality Enhancement Cell has planned to organize a seminar on "Sports Management and Sports for Development" on 19 May 2010 at 2:00 pm at the UAAR Auditorium. The resource person is Major (R) Aamir Bilal. Major Bilal is an eminent writer and has remained Media Advisor and Official Spokesperson of Pakistan Cricket Board. The seminar is open for all the faculty and students.

 

The Arid University Syndicate, in its 54th Meeting held on 30 January 2010, has approved the recommendations of the 38th meeting of the Academic Council regarding the policy for plagiarism in postgraduate theses and acceptance of the theses for the award. It was decided that:

1. Anti-plagiarism software access would be provided to all faculty members and necessary training in this regard will be arranged by the Director QEC for all the faculty members.
2. The Supervisor will check each of his post-graduate student´s theses for plagiarism using the Anti-plagiarism software. The concerned Chairperson will send the theses to the Director Advanced Studies through proper channel along with the Plagiarism/Similarity Index (one-page) report and also a certificate stating that the thesis has been checked against the plagiarism and approved/cleared for submission {if the Similarity Index (excluding bibliography) is below 10% as already implemented}.
3. A CD containing the final version of each thesis, alongwith a copy of the Plagiarism/Similarity Index report and the certificate issued/signed by the respective Chairperson, will be provided to the Director QEC through the Controller of Examinations.
4. If plagiarism in the thesis is found at any stage in future, the supervisor and the concerned Chairperson issuing the certificate would be responsible.

It was also decided that for the acceptance of the final most hard bound copies of the PhD theses by the Controller of examinations for the award of degrees after the foreign referee´s reports, the Director QEC would check if necessary amendments/changes, as suggested by the referees, have been incorporated.

 

Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University has made special arrangements to detect plagiarism with the aid of an Anti-plagiarism software "TURNITIN". This product generates originality reports which assist supervisors and instructors to determine any problems in referencing or citation and allow them to review matches between submitted work and the databases. The Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) at the Arid University has been equipped with this powerful tool and it is now ready to combat with plagiarism. Now the post-graduate students' theses will be checked against plagiarism prior to their external/foreign evaluation. This service will also help tackling academic and research deceit by checking papers for publications, student´s assignments and applications for research grants that will consequently lead to quality assurance. "This will help eliminating the growing fashion of plagiarism and breach of copyrights", the Director Quality Enhancement said. The Arid University is already committed to promote quality culture and is taking strict actions in the light of Plagiarism Policy developed by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan.

 

 

The Quality Enhancement Cell PMAS-AAUR organized a seminar on Preventing Plagiarism: A Complete Roadmap through video conference on 04 March 2010 at 11:30 am in collaboration with the Quality Assurance Agency of the HEC. The resource person was Mr Muneer Ahmed, Deputy Director (QA). Faculty members, Dean & Directors attend the seminar. The venue is Video Conference Room, UIIT.

 

The Quality Enhancement Cell at the Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi organized a video conference training workshop on "How to use Turnitin Anti-plagiarism Software" in collaborate with the Quality Assurance Agency (Learning Innovative Division) HEC on 28 January 2010.
The workshop aimed to equip the faculty with the skills for effective and tactful use of the Anti-plagiarism Software. Mr Munir Ahmad, DD QA, HEC was resource person for the workshop who delivered 3 sessions. Deans, Directors and faculty members attended the workshop.
The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dr Khalid Mahmood Khan (T.I) also attended the workshop. He showed great satisfaction on successful organization of the workshop. At the end of the session he emphasized the need of innovative research. There should have been new and innovative research rather than validating the other's research. "This will also prevent the Plagiarism trend in the scientific working, the Vice Chancellor said". He said the supervisors are responsible for checking the plagiarism in the thesis of there students. The AAUR has a strict policy in this regard.
Professor Riaz Ahmad, Director QEC, said accounts for all the university faculty have already been created and the AAUR has a vigilant focus on the plagiarism check and the QEC team are forefront sliders to combat with the growing trend in the plagiarism.